Dehradun: After Trivendra Singh Rawat's order against abattoirs in the state, Uttarakhand high court has directed administration to ensure that no cattle is killed "for the purpose of meat".
"No person or any on his behalf shall export cow, bull, bullock, heifer or calf for the purpose of slaughter," said a division bench of acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Tiwari. They further directed the government to make gaushalas’ or shelter home for cattle within a year.
While delivering an order on a petition, the Uttarakhand high court underlined that there should be a gaushala in a cluster of every 25 villages.
"The active shelter homes are run by religious bodies. The condition of government run gaushalas is pathetic. The problem is not funds but the lack of interest (towards cow progeny)," said Narendra Rawat, chairperson of Uttarakhand Gau Sewa Aayog — a commission to look after issues related to cow progeny.
Uttarakhand has 16,674 villages and going by this number, the state will have to construct close to 670 shelter homes to accommodate stray cattle. Presently, there are only 25 such shelter homes accommodating some 5,000 odd stray or unproductive cattle.
The bench further directed chief engineers of all national and state highways and executive officials with the local bodies to ensure that "all the roads passing through their jurisdiction are kept free from the stray cattle to ensure free and smooth flow of the traffic".
The court, which had passed a 40-page order on Friday, added that despite an act that bans killing of cow progeny for meat, there have been instances of killing of animal for the meat.
As per the police records, a total of 1,167 accused were booked under the Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act in 2015. Followed by 374 in 2016. This number slightly swelled to 555 in 2017 – the year when BJP government was voted to power. This year 76 accused have been booked under the act.
Prosecution be launched under Section 289, 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code and also under various provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960 as well as Section 7 of the Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act, 2007, against the owners of any cattle which are found on the streets, roads and public places, the order further read.
According to an animal census 2003, there were around 63,000 unproductive cattle’s in the state.
Two days ago, Rawat had said his government will not allow opening of abattoirs in the state and will cancel licences for those issued by the previous regime. Reiterating his government’s commitment to cow conservation, Rawat said Uttarakhand is the first state where special police squads have been raised in Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts to stop cow slaughter and cow trafficking.
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